Residents and researchers urge Simi Valley to fund public air monitoring around landfill receiving LA fire debris

During the public‑comment portion of the May 5 meeting, residents and community groups urged the City Council to work with university partners to fund public air monitors around the Simi Valley landfill, which has received debris from recent Los Angeles region fires.

Jenny Knack, representing Parents Against Santa Susana Field Lab, said the LA Fire Community Coalition and academic partners have developed monitoring approaches and asked the city to partner on a “long term real time monitoring program that can be publicly accessed.” Knack said the coalition’s university partners (including UC Davis and UCLA researchers) can contract with cities and counties to deploy monitors and analyze results.

Mel Espinosa, a local resident, told the council she lives within a few miles of the landfill and urged timely action: “We deserve a right to know the air we are breathing and how and know if it is safe.” Both speakers said the recent routing of fire debris to the landfill—and limits on publicly available EPA soil classification data—underscore a need for independent, transparent monitoring.

Council members said staff have been engaging with the landfill operator and that a public presentation on the debris handling process would be useful. Council member Rhodes requested a council briefing explaining how debris moves from collection points to deposition sites and what controls are in place; Council member Litzler, who toured the landfill that day, said the operator is separating and watering loads but agreed that “it never hurts to do soil samples and do monitoring.” Mayor Kavanaugh said staff and the city manager would review options for further exploration.

No formal council action was taken at the meeting; staff said they would follow up on requests for additional briefings and consider potential monitoring partnerships.